Marks & Spencer switches to fairtrade coffee and tea

03 March 2006

On the 6th of March, the first day of the Fairtrade Fortnight in the UK, Marks & Spencer announced that it is converting all its coffee and tea to Fairtrade, and extending its range of Fairtrade products to cotton.

Marks & Spencer (M&S) is the largest clothing retailer in the UK by turnover and it is also a multi-billion pound food retailer. Most of its shops sell both categories, clothes and food. The entire range of Marks & Spencer's coffee and tea, totaling 38 lines, is switching to Fairtrade in a move estimated to increase the value of all Fairtrade instant and ground coffee sold in the UK supermarkets by 18%, and the value of Fairtrade tea by approximately 30%. Marks & Spencer already sells only Fairtrade tea and coffee in its 200 Café Revive coffee shops, one of the largest chains in the UK, resulting in 35m cups of Fairtrade coffee having been sold since September 2004. Also, t-shirts and socks made from Fairtrade certified cotton are on sale in 36 Marks & Spencer stores in the UK and on their Website: www.marksandspencers.com.